NoEAA X-Country Championships
Heaton Park
Saturday 27th January 2007
Pete Budd

The inspirational Andi Jones romped to a second successive Northern Crown at Heaton Park, defending his title wonderfully well. Leading right from the start Andi held off a late surge from old rival Gareth Raven of Sale and now joins a small and prestigious group of athletes who have managed to successfully defend the Northern title.
Not bad for a Northern boy who just loves his gravy!!

Phil Leybourne as usual gave his everything to the team cause despite ongoing problems with his knee and finished 33rd and 2nd counter. Believe me if this guy had kept injury free over the years he could have been top notch.
Next came Matt Moorhouse in 47th, a good run considering his lack of proper training.
Nice to see Dave Milliken back on the country again and running well for 59th.
Dave has been strutting his stuff on the fells recently with some degree of success.
Just a few steps behind came Pumlani Bangani in 62nd. Since joining Salford as predominantly a road race specialist, Pumlani has proven to be a very good team man indeed and turns out on any terrain.
Making up the scoring six was James Jackson in 77th, this was James’s
best run for a while and augurs well for a good return on the roads.

Phil West, as usual, gave his wholehearted effort in 90th place ahead of Rob Hughes in 110th who ran ok in spite of a recent spate of injuries. Next came a rejuvenated Paul Birkett in 166th place. Paul has hardly trained recently so this was a remarkable effort. Billy Martin wasn’t at his best in 202nd, but knowing Billy he’ll be determined to come back stronger and better. Sean McMyler, back in the fold after a short absence, was reasonably pleased with his 242nd place ahead of Mike Wakefield who ran solidly for 286th. Dave Shaw showed signs of an improvement in 380th whilst Tommy Daniels 547th and Roe Bowness 583rd once again donned the red and white vest with pride.

Overall the men finished third team and bronze medallists (279points)
behind the all conquering Leeds City (80) and Sale (149).

Andi Jones

What was always going to be a tough race, ended up being even tougher, especially that third and final lap.
The first lap seemed to fly by, running comfortably with Webb from Leeds, and early on in the lap with
Salford's Carl Hardman. Second lap and Webb died, I was left on my own.
It's always funny how you run passed a group of spectators and you have 60m on the next runner
and yet three seconds down the course you have 20m on the next runner!!!!!!

The third lap took its toll on me and Gareth Raven, (Sale Harriers) who has medalled in this event on
numerous occasions, (but still has not taken gold and was very much after it yesterday)
started to make inroads into my lead.

I was aware of him early on in the third lap and by the last mile I could not miss the fact that he was
right back up with me, challenging hard. The noise around the race course kept me going.
I had Bob screaming at me that I would have to run hard if I was to hold him off.
I had Donna shouting at me not to let him win, even though Gareth and Donna run for the same club.
My mum and dad (who was only there because Man City play Sunday and not Saturday this week)
were screaming at me, and then there was everyone else screaming and cheering.
And to top it all off, there were just as many, if not more, screaming exactly the same at Raven!!!!

Now I am known for not having a sprint finish, which was bit of a problem yesterday.
Raven was hunting me down and he knows better than most I don't have
the speed to pick it up in the last few hundred metres of a race.
But somehow yesterday I managed to hold him off.

As I crossed the line and chucked up, it began to sink in that I had managed to win the
Northern Cross Championships twice on the run.
Raven looked a little peed off, but I don't blame him one little bit.
In third place was a very excited Matt Barnes of Alty AC who really worked hard and wanted to medal this year.

Well done to all those who ran, especially to the scoring six who helped gain the team bronze medal.

RESULTS

Manchester X-Country League
Boggart Hole Clough
Saturday 18th November 2006

There was a home win in the mens race and strong support from others to ensure a team win.
Our top five athletes came in the first twenty finishers.

Carl Hardman came through a good tussle with two Sale Harriers, dropping one before the last of three laps, and proving stronger in the finish. There were more fine performances slightly further down the field with Lee Dunn coming out of hiding to finish as third Salford counter directly behind Rob.

Phil, Paul, Billy, Dave, Sean, Jacko et al. ensured strong Salford representation throughout.

RESULTS